Mother pleas for information on 25th anniversary of daughter's disappearance

Submitted by Janene Pieters on August 31, 2018 - 11:30

Tanja Groen, went missing in Maastricht on 31 August 1993. Photo: Politie

Exactly 25 years ago today, 18-year-old student Tanja Groen disappeared without a trace in Maastricht. Even after all this time, her mother Corrie Groen hopes that someone will come forward with information about what happened to her youngest daughter. "You never know if someone will open their mouth", she said to RTL Nieuws.

Around midnight on August 31st, 1993, first year student Tanja left a party at her student association in Maastricht to cycle to her room in nearby Gronsveld. She never arrived there. No sign of her, not even her bicycle, was ever found.

On the evening that Tanya disappeared, she still spoke to her mother over the phone. "She called to say that she was coming home a day later than planned, because that evening and on Thursday there were still activities at the association. She told about her orientation week, but the conversation was short, because she was late", Corrie said to RTL. On Friday Corrie went to the train station in Schagen to pick up her daughter, but she never arrived. A short time later, fellow students called and told her Tanja had not been seen since Tuesday.

"In the beginning you do nothing but cry. You panic", Corrie said. "I can not understand how someone just disappears. It's bizarre, impossible. But there weren't any cellphones then, and computers were just becoming popular." After Tanja's disappearance, there were a few tips, but nothing that led anywhere. "Nothing has been found, nothing at all", Corrie said to the broadcaster. "Every now and again a tip comes in at the cold case team. You think: could it be? And then it's nothing again. Every time. It remains hard."

Corrie describes her daughter as a very happy girl. "We never had any problems with her during puberty. She was also very smart", she said. Tanja would have been 43 years old now. "Sometimes I wonder if she would have had a boyfriend, if she would've been married or had children. But we assume that she is no longer alive, after all these years." Corrie's granddaughter is now older than Tanja was when she disappeared.

Corrie and her husband are still hoping for the golden tip, that will give them some sign about what happened to their daughter. "You hope that something is found, an arm or a leg. Then you have something at least. Now there is no body and you can never process it", she said. They hope that someone will come forward. "That's the only thing we want. So that we can finally get some rest."

They still think about their daughter. "They say that the missing becomes less over the years, but that is not true."